Re: “Corrie to blame for putting herself in harm’s way,” Oct. 3 letter to the editor.

I was stunned by letter-writer Catherine Durkin Robinson’s callousness in referring to Rachel Corrie as “squashed like a bug.” But then again it makes perfect sense, since she believes Rachel Corrie went to the Gaza Strip to cause “mischief,” as if her intent was prank phone calls rather than to act on a deeply felt commitment to protect Palestinian homes from Israeli bulldozers.

This willful denial of the ugly reality regarding the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land doesn’t change the fact that thousands of Palestinian homes have been destroyed, crops and orchards destroyed, that checkpoints and roadblocks prevent Palestinian children from attending school, that the “security” fence built by Israel is twice as high as the Berlin Wall and separates Palestinians from their agricultural land.

Those who support Israel’s occupation can cover their eyes and ears, but that won’t absolve Israel or the United States of this humanitarian crisis.